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Featured Métis Artists

Get to know our Métis Artisans Featured in the Gift Shop.

CARMEN MILLER

Carmen Miller is a Metis artisan from Alberta. She was born into a military family to William and Vanessa Miller and is the 4th of five children. Her early years were spent in communities across Canada. At the age of eight, she taught herself how to make simple beaded items like rings, necklaces, and bracelets. Her love of beading and creating has continued on until today. In 1994 Carmen learned the art of moose and caribou hair tufting. This art form expanded into adorning jewelry, moccasins, and clothing.

Carmen’s work typically reflects her love of Metis floral designs. She has taught extensively in Alberta, Canada’s North and Eastern Canada. Some of her achievements include being a participating artist in a museum display, Traditional Arts award winner at the Great Northern Arts Festival, and an Artist’s Choice award at the Adaka Cultural Arts Festival.

Carmen takes great pride in her work and attention to detail in every piece she makes. Her materials include home tanned moose and deer hide, moose and caribou hair, birch bark, porcupine quills, and high quality jewelry findings. She currently resides with her three children by the beautiful Rocky Mountains in the community of Hinton, Alberta.

LESLIE GAUTHIER

Leslie always dreamed of owning her own business. With her love of fashion, creativity along with business degree, she founded Em&Nate. Her jewelry is simple, high quality, and easy to wear. Her designs, inspired by her indigenous culture and the world around her, are thoughtfully crafted by herself. I am Metis, which is a mix of Cree and French.

Em&Nate is a mix of Leslie’s children’s names Emily and Nate to play off the word emanate. Emanate: issue or spread out from.

LESLIE GAUTHIER

I have always dreamed of owning my own business. With my love of fashion, creativity along with business degree I founded Em&Nate. Designed by me my jewelry is simple, high quality, and easy to wear designs are inspired by the things around me including my indigenous culture. I am Metis, which is a mix of Cree and French.

Em&Nate is a mix of my children’s names Emily and Nate to play off the word emanate. Emanate: issue or spread out from.

CLARE TOLCHARD

Clara Parenteau’s given name pays homage to her great auntie from her father’s side. Her parents, Delphine Chalifoux Parenteau and Eddy Parenteau, played crucial roles in her upbringing.
During the first decade of her life, Clara resided in Paddle Prairie Métis Settlement, but she eventually relocated to Devon, Alberta. Her ancestral ties stretch back to various locations, including Batoche, Paddle Prairie, Onion Lake, Saddle Lake, Duck Lake, and Fishing Lake. For four decades, Clara forged a successful career in finance in and around Edmonton. However, she quickly learned that it was better to keep her heritage a secret. Revealing her ancestry often spurred prejudice that negatively impacted her professional journey.
A pivotal moment for Clara occurred when her father’s health began deteriorating. To honor him, she started crafting ribbon skirts and shirts for her siblings to wear at his funeral. This experience inspired her to continue creating these garments for indigenous people, allowing them to proudly showcase their rich heritage.
Clara ensures that her creations utilize top-notch materials while remaining affordable. Sewing has been a lifelong passion for Clara, stemming from her upbringing in a family of ten children. Her mother skillfully handled various tasks, including sewing, knitting, baking, canning, and much more.

PHYLLIS POITRAS-JARRETT

Phyllis Poitras-Jarrett, a contemporary Métis artist residing in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, warmly welcomes Tansi! Having retired from a fulfilling teaching career spanning 28 years, Phyllis now devotes her time to her true passion – creating art. Shaped by her experiences, cultural background, and love for nature, Phyllis’s artwork reflects her self-taught talent and innate creativity that has blossomed since her childhood. Growing up on a farm in Saskatchewan near Last Mountain Lake, Phyllis comes from a large family of six siblings. Her upbringing in such surroundings has instilled in her a profound connection with nature, which she expertly translates into her art. Using animal motifs and vibrant symmetrical Métis floral beadwork, Phyllis’s art celebrates the diversity and beauty found in nature. At the coreof her artwork lies a symbolic representation of unity and imperfection. Phyllis incorporates grey backgrounds and white flowers to signify the grandeur of the universe, while carefully concealing a glass spirit bead within each painting. In traditional Métis beadwork, this spirit bead would typically be an off-color or misplaced bead, representing the inherent flaws of humanity. It serves as a reminder that each day presents an opportunity for personal growth and improvement – not only for oneself but also for the betterment of all living beings, known as “All of Our Relations.” Phyllisdedicates her ongoing series to the cherished Kokums and Aunties, as well as the present-day Métis beaders who strive to reclaim the artistry of Métis beadwork. Additionally, she pays homage to the Michif language teachers who work fervently to revitalize the language. Above all, her series is a tribute to the Indigenous ancestors who endured unimaginable injustices over the years. Phyllis draws inspiration from their remarkable resilience and unwavering spirit, which continue to emanate in the strength and love embodied by today’s Indigenous youth. Gratefully, Phyllis expresses her heartfelt gratitude for providing the opportunity to share her art with others. Through her creations, she hopes to convey a message of reverence for Mother Earth and inspire efforts toward healing, harmony, and balance in both our lives and the natural world.

LISA SHEPHERD

Born and raised in Alberta, her father being of Métis ancestry and her mother of Italian ancestry. She is now based in the Lower Mainland of BC, and she is grateful to the Katzie and Kwantlen First Nations who have cared for the land where she lives and works, their traditional unceded shared territory, since time immemorial.

Lisa’s business started in 2008, when she began making moccasins for friends and family. Her background in clothing design led her to create authentic Métis garments featuring her gorgeous beadwork. She was soon recognized by various community organizations as a Métis art and cultural expert, and became a sought-after teacher of beading, moccasin making, fish scale art, and traditional ecological knowledge, including plant medicine.
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Lisa’s love of artwork and sewing started as a wee child…
Lisa fondly recalls visiting her grandparents, where the budding artist was given small stacks of fabric, a needle and thread, some paper and pencil crayons. These gifts inspired many happy hours designing, sewing and forming her interest in textile arts. It came as no surprise to her family and friends when Lisa garnered an art bursary and moved to the west coast to study apparel design.

Today, the designer is best known for her one-of-a-kind beaded garments that pay tribute to her Métis roots. The Métis, after all, are often referred to as the Flower Beadwork People. Lisa’s contemporary studies of native plants and her exploration of the padula flowers in ancestral works land thoughtfully by way of beads on velveteen, stroud and smokey hide. She works with a meticulousness that can only come from an artist’s desire to unearth an almost lost history, bring it into the present and explain it to a searching generation.

Lisa has become a highly regarded Métis knowledge holder…
Throughout the past decade, Lisa’s business has shifted from primarily making physical items to specializing in sharing cultural knowledge, advocating for Métis visibility, and cultivating meaningful relationships throughout her community.

Lisa is regularly asked to collaborate with other Indigenous artists on prominent projects and commissions, each representing the Métis people and culture. And she now has several significant art pieces featured in public spaces throughout the country and abroad, including in Parks Canada, Royal Ontario Museum, Royal Alberta Museum, Jasper Yellowhead Museum and Archives, Gabriel Dumont Museum and Archives and the National Music Centre, Fort Langley National Historic Site, Edmonton Public Library, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art (USA), and Museum Natur und Mensch (Germany).

From simple beginnings as a child with needle and thread and then later creating beaded moccasins for loved ones, to being involved in high-profile heritage projects uplifting Métis artwork and culture and being featured in Canadian and international artwork exhibits, Lisa’s reputation as knowledge holder and advocate for the Métis people continues to grow. You can find her knowledge and artwork featured in various cultural and academic publications across Canada, including for Métis Nation BC, Parks Canada, CBC, and the University of Manitoba, with more set to come out in the near future.

Nicole Gordon

My name is Nicole Gordon, a proud published Metis Artist originally from Indigenous treaty territory 6 of Saskatoon Sask. and ancestral linage of St Lazare and St Boniface Manitoba. I moved to the Northeast part of Alberta still in the treaty territory 6 almost 20 years ago and absolutely fell in love with the area, and made it my permanent home living between Bonnyville, Lac La Biche and Cold Lake. I am a proud member of 2 prominent indigenous originations Metis Nation Alberta and Indigenous Tourism Alberta.

 

I have always been inspired by the predictive words of Historic Revolutionary Leader of the Metis people, Louis Riel.

“My people will sleep for 100 years, but when they awake it will be the artists who give them back their spirit.”

This quote always resonated with my soul, my calling to be a traditional/non traditional Hand Drum artist, truth teller, storyteller/poet, healer as licensed life coach and health and wellness leader, cultural educator, educator of work shops, advocate and public speaker in order to help others through my own personal story and education on the Medicine Wheel to serve and help others. All other paths and journeys I walked prior, have led me directly to this point and I am truly grateful for all these huge lessons no matter how hard they were.

It was extremely important to be authentically “ME” as an artist with no compromise or conformity, while I create each one of these traditional/ non traditional hand drum pieces, they truly come from my heart. The key word of “Mixed” to remain in honor of myself first to my cultural significance, to all my relations, Elders and Ancestors, Mother Earth, Grandmother Moon and of course CREATOR. The teachings, the lessons of the animal relations,4 elements, 4 directions, the 4 Medicines and what they mean in my Metis culture, but also to me personally that everything and everyone is truly connected.
Every single one of the drums are original hand drawn and painted pieces, they are not replicas, silk screened, traced, stenciled or copied in any way shape or form. The drum piece is my original work. In purchasing one of my drum pieces, you can be assured they are as described, and you would hold the only original signed works when purchasing.

I created these drums to be ecstatically pleasing for all to enjoy.

The drum also known as the HEART OF MOTHER EARTH and its music or the drumbeat is the Heartbeat and song of her, in my culture this is sacred and honored immensely with great respect and dignity. These pieces are fully functional hand drum/ tambourine INSTRUMENT and can also be used either for home, office, school DECOR or for CEREMONIES, HEALINGS, EDUCATION depending on your own personal INTENTION of the piece.

As a published Artist, in the publication from Metis Nation Alberta “Metis Stories Of Hope,” where my drum, Titled ” OUR TIME ON THE WHEEL” is show cased on the cover of the book, as well as inside the publication with original poem. With the worldwide distribution of my work, I take extreme pride, humility and extreme gratitude to Creator to bring my gifts to the public. I truly hope you enjoy these pieces and the embodiment of what I was called to create and represent for all to enjoy in hopes they resonate to you with in your own personal way.

To all my relations many blessings to you and truly hope you go in a good way.

May Light Shine Even Brighter with Every Single Beat of the Drum.

Hiy Hiy.